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Battle Scars

Welcome to the club, you CrossFit and you now have battle scars (aka: hand calluses). While I am proud of those new to CrossFit when they start to develop tougher hands, if they are not properly taken care of, rips can occur.

Give these three ideas a try to PREVENT rips and see how it works for you:

Moisturize daily.
The worst thing for your hands is for them to always be dry (this weather doesn’t help much either). So lather up morning, noon and night (and the middle of the night, too!) Has anyone woken up in the middle of the night with sore, dry hands? I have. Our favorite product to use is Ript Skin; otherwise, be sure to use natural moisturizers like Vitamin E or Burt’s Bees.

Shave your calluses regularly (try for once a week).
If the callus builds up to much, then it can easily pinch when you’re doing pull-ups or when you’re on the barbell. You don’t want to over-shave, though – the skin will end up too thin and tear even easier. The best shaver I have found is simply a Tweezerman you can get from a drug store. Be sure to get some extra razors (using a dull razor is a huge no no) and shave your calluses right after you get out of the shower.

File them down.
In between shavings, you can keep them under control by filing them down. You may notice that after shaving your calluses down, there might be some bumps left, too. File your hands down with a foot buffer. The stones and other foot razer files don’t seem to work as well.

#Boom! Three easy steps to soft(ish) hands.
If you have other methods that work for your calluses please mention them in the comments below!